I Will be King
by Lilac Demetrius
Summary: Luffy wants to be King of the Pirates but is forced to remain bedridden. He was born with an incurable disease. Nothing will get in Luffy's way. He wants to be king.


I will be King

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

Pairing: None

Authors note: I admit, haven't finished watching one piece yet but I'm pretty far. I'm at the part where they meet Franky. Usopp has left the crew and Robin shot Ice burg.

XXX

"His temperature is rising!" Chopper's worried voice rang through the house. "Everyone out of the room!"

Luffy lay panting on the bed, his eyes were closed and his face was covered in sweat. He tilted his head towards Chopper and offered him a small smile. "I'll be fine," He said weakly. "I have to survive if I'm going to be King of the Pirates."

Chopper wiped Luffy's forehead. "Fight it a bit longer. I promise I will find a cure." Chopper whispered to his friend and patient.

Luffy began coughing and red splattered over the bed sheets. He offered a small smile and fell back onto the bed. "Sorry about that."

Chopper began removing the sheets to replace them, "Don't apologize. Here, take these." The small animal handed Luffy a couple of pills and a glass of water. Luffy sat up and forced the small pills down his throat.

"You'll join my crew when I start my pirate crew, right?" Luffy asked blinking his large eyes up to his doctor.

Chopper gave him a teary smile, "Of course. I'll always stand by your side."

Luffy smiled and passed out as the pills took effect.

Sanji removed a cigarette from his mouth as he entered Luffy's room with a plate of food. There was a strict no smoking rule near Luffy where his lungs could give out at any moment.

"How long do you think he has left?" Sanji's voice was quiet as he placed the covered meal by Luffy's feet.

"Not much time. It doesn't matter how much he fights, if I don't find a cure he will be gone within the month." Chopper sobbed.

"Then find the god damn cure!" Sanji snapped. "I promised Luffy that as soon as he's feeling better I would make him whatever he wanted!"

Chopper cried harder, "I'm trying! But we don't even know what he has yet! He was born this way and as far as we know everybody who has it dies before they reach twenty!"

"You said you wanted to be able to cure any disease didn't you? If you can't even-"

"Sanji! That's enough." Nami appeared at the doorway.

"But Nami-"

"Don't you think Chopper knows how important curing Luffy's sickness? He already had to watch Ace suffer and die; he knows what's at stake!"

At the mention of Luffy's brother Chopper and Sanji flinched. Ace's death had hit them hard. They were never prepared for Ace to just not wake up one day. The older boy had the same thing that Luffy did. It must have been a gene or DNA screw up. Neither of their parents had it and their oldest brother Shanks didn't have it either.

XXX

_Luffy giggled as Shanks push him around in a wheelchair. The grin never seemed to fade no matter how sick he got._

"_Zoro! Robin! Look! I can leave the house now! I want to see the outside today!" Luffy grinned._

"_Can we come too?" Robin asked; a soft smile on her face. Maybe Luffy was getting better. He didn't look as pale as he usually did._

_The small group of people pushed Luffy outside and into the daylight. Shanks placed a straw hat on Luffy's head to protect him from the sun._

_The villagers were happy to see him. Luffy always brought a smile to their faces whenever they saw him. It was the first time in seven years that Luffy was allowed to leave the house._

"_Luffy! Are you all better?" Usopp ran up to him and grinned, the Usopp pirates on his tail. "You can join my pirate crew now!"_

_Luffy just laughed, "Don't be silly Usopp, I'm going to make my own pirate crew and be king of the pirates!"_

_Usopp pouted, "Well if you ever change your mind. We go on amazing adventures. This one time I battled an army of marines all by myself and by the time I was done they were bowing to me! The Great Captain Usopp!"_

_Luffy laughed and grinned. Shanks, Robin, and Zoro knew he was lying but there was no reason to burst the sick boy's bubble._

"_Let's head back home," Shanks chuckled, "You had enough fun for the day. You can tell Ace about all the fun you had."_

_Luffy blinked up, "Do you think Ace will get to go to the town with us next time?"_

_Shanks frowned, "I'm not sure. It depends what the doctor says."_

_Luffy grinned, "I know Ace misses the town too."_

_Zoro frowned, "Guys, why is everyone running around the house?"_

"_Sanji!" Shanks called the blond stopped running. "What's wrong?"_

_Sanji frowned and looked away, "Ace stopped breathing and he isn't waking up. Chopper's doing everything he can but…" Sanji trailed off. _

_Luffy's grin slipped from his lips, "No! I have to tell him about all the fun things I did in town today."_

_Sanji eyed Luffy, "Robin, take Luffy to his room. I left his lunch on the side."_

_Tears pooled in the smaller boys eyes. "I want to see Ace!" He attempted to stand but his legs were too weak to hold his body up and he collapsed on the ground. Shanks kneeled and helped him back onto his seat._

"_Please Luffy, listen to Sanji. I'm going to check on Ace and I will tell you what happens."_

_Luffy nodded knowing that it was useless to argue._

_Ace had died that day at 1:36 PM._

_XXX_

The next morning Luffy decided on eating outside for breakfast and no one had the heart to tell him no. They all spent a couple of hours basking in the warm sun and laughing.

"We will be known as the straw-hat pirates because our flag will be a skull with a straw-hat!"

Shanks blinked, "You're stealing my hat?"

Luffy nodded, "I like it!"

Shanks chuckled; he had to admit that the hat looked good on Luffy. "Fine but you have to keep it in good condition."

Luffy grinned. "I will be king of the pirates! I will keep your hat in good condition, I promise!"

Everyone chuckled, "Go on. What will I be?" Robin asked.

Luffy thought for a second. "I know Sanji will be our chef because he makes really yummy food."

Sanji grinned, "I'll make the yummiest food just for you and all the beautiful ladies you invite on the ship."

"We'll need a navigator. Zoro can't be that since his sense of direction is terrible," Luffy started.

"Hey!" Zoro protested. Everyone laughed at Zoro's expense.

"Nami, you can be our navigator! And Chopper is of course going to be our doctor!" Luffy continued.

Nami and Chopper smiled at that.

"Usopp, since you're so strong and brave, you can be our swordsman," Luffy said grinning.

Usopp became pale, "I think Zoro would be a better swordsman."

Luffy thought for a second and laughed again, "Okay, Zoro, you're the swordsman. Usopp, your dad was a sniper, right? That's what you can be!"

"Sure Luffy," Usopp and Zoro smiled at the sickly boy.

"And I'll be the captain! Captain Monkey D. Luffy! We can go on all sorts of adventures like what Usopp has been on and find the One Piece!"

Shanks chuckled and lifted Luffy up, "You can find the One Piece tomorrow. For now, you need some rest. Let's get you to bed."

Luffy pouted and protested only to be ignored. He rested his head against Shanks' chest. "Bye guys! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye Luffy!"

XXX

"Chopper! Luffy's not waking up!" Sanji's voice was panicked. The small reindeer rushed in and checked Luffy's vitals.

"He's not breathing and he has no pulse!" Choppers voice was small. He climbed onto Luffy and attempted to restart the small boy's weak heart. "Wake up Luffy! You want to be King, don't you? Well you can't be dead!"

Luffy didn't move. Choppers eyes filled with tears, "We are going to have so many fun adventures! Wake up and lead us Luffy!"

Shanks and Zoro entered the room, worry etched on their face.

"Luffy," Shanks whispered. Zoro pulled Chopper off of Luffy.

"T-time of death," Chopper whispered, "five forty five PM."

Everything went silent and sorrow filled the air.

XXX

There you go, please tell me if this was too confusing or if it was any good.


End file.
